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Tokyo: Stocks open lower after see-saw week

Fri, Sep 11, 2015 - 8:46 AM

PHOTO: EPA

[TOKYO] Tokyo stocks opened 0.74 per cent lower on Friday, the final day of a roller-coaster week that has seen shares hit by uncertainty over whether the US will raise interest rates next week and China's economy.

The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which dropped 2.51 per cent on Thursday, lost 136.08 points to 18,163.54 in the first minutes of trading.

Charlie Bilello of Pension Partners said investors believe the US Federal Reserve is unlikely to make the leap to raise zero-level benchmark interest rates at its policy meeting on Wednesday and Thursday.

Expectations the US central bank will hike rates for the first time in almost a decade in September have faded as concerns about slowing growth in China have sent jitters through world markets.

Market voices on:

"There's increasing hope that they're not going to do anything," he said. "My view is that they're not data-dependent, they're stock market-dependent." US equity markets broadly rose on Thursday, led by tech companies.